The Spotted Devil

The whole litter is gorgeous - very handsome and well put together although quite different in type/character. I think either Em's next season later this year or mid 2017 and I will think about having another litter. Choosing the sire will, in part, depend on who is interested and what they are looking for in a pup! Whilst I'd love to do this mating again none of these pups are for the faint of heart :laugh:

Thanks - I knew you would understand my pride :D Just happy, joyful and loved. Anything else is icing on the cake. This. All the videos were cute - but heck Zack is super cute! Isn't he a darling! Yes, he's a big puppy at heart still and very lanky - super, super cute. I've just spent a few weeks with him in SA. Murphy is a stocky lad and JUST like Em in terms of training. Can get a little intense when shaping :laugh:

Starkehre's thread made me think how proud I am of Em's pups and how fortunate I am to get the opportunity to train with some of them... A quick walk down memory lane...1 day old... 5-6 weeks old... Three out of four of the pups have done Susan Garrett's Recallers course and we have all made videos for the annual competition. So here's Murphy's video....first born, formerly known as Jim. LOVES water and his owner has done a phenomenal job of of training a recall. He also does nose works, has an education role in his owner's job and is training for retrieving trials. And this is Zac, formerly known as Bernard. Such a sweetie pie, Zac seems to have boundless energy, loves the water but really loves running and hunting. Once again, his dedicated owner has put the work in and has been well rewarded. Zac is also training for retrieving trials. And of course, the high energy, slightly crazy sister Ginny starring alongside Ziggy and Em...Ginny is doing foundation training for both agility and retrieving. Sir Humphrey is living a lovely life, attending obedience club and melting hearts everywhere. His owner hopes to trial him in Rally-O. And what about Em? Well....we just arrived home from the 2016 Agility Nationals where she qualified for the Novice Agility 400 final (twice with second places) and went on to WIN and so now is the National Champion. What a gal. And on an unusual side-note, all the pups are still entire. I asked owners to allow them to at least finish growing first - two had never owned an entire dog before - and at no time have their owners had cause for concern.

Looking fabulous Starkehre! Fun times ahead for you!

Might be able to start at least with something cheap and second hand on free cycle or an op shop? Also I take young pups to the shopping centre or skate park and work at a distance enough so the dog feels comfortable.

This article is full of misinformation and demonstrates a general failure to understand the basic principles of behaviour and learning. It's nice when you find things you can agree with, but that is not the same as finding things that are correct. If you are interested in the latter, start with a text book, not the opinion of a dog trainer with unknown qualifications publishing little thought bubbles about how they think training works on the internet. Seriously, this industry needs peer review. Shit yes* *Said with force

Hey Stitch - there's a saying that I love about "Pavlov always being on your shoulder" - which essentially means if you have an animal that is anxious or fearful that you are training then "Pavlov" grows larger and it's very difficult to use operant learning to teach new behaviours ("Skinner" is on the other shoulder!) So I would suggest the Look At That (LAT) Game as a starting point (just google it). Essentially you want to change how the dog feels about the scary stuff. For example, instead of the bike or dog triggering a fear response it becomes a trigger for a game with you. It really does work but most importantly you need to work with the dog under arousal threshold so it might mean working in your yard and having a set up where there is a stationary bike then someone walking beside a bike then riding it. Apologies for brief response but 13 hour day for an agility trial and I'm exhausted

It's about the individual's PERCEPTON. Give some species in captivity control over whether or not they interact with humans (possibly even visual contact) and they show less aggression, less stereotypies and lower faecal cortisol concentration. Give a cat a hide and they show more resting behaviour and lower urinary cortisol concentrations and are more likely to choose to approach the human carer. Allow a dog to approach you and you'll get fewer fear behaviours. These are simple examples. I lecture on this at a tertiary level so I'm not going to spend hours debating this except to say the evidence is across species. This is exactly how evolution works. Why do you think Western society has higher levels of depression? Someone who has a perception of autonomy in the work place is more likely to be happy and productive. My dogs think they make HEAPS of decisions....want food, don't mug hand...want out, sit....want retrieve, sit and follow directions...want to run, recall...want rabbit, get pigeon.

Sorry Willem but you are misinterpreting what I said. This is STRONG science. Give an animal control over its environment and it copes better, both behaviourally AND physiologically.

I'm going to put the whole "force" debate to one side as I don't think it accurately describes much. We know that animals (and humans) are less stressed (and therefore experience better welfare) when they make choices and get to control their environment. If you are clever you can manipulate the environment to make it very likely they make the RIGHT choice - for you. If you are going to punish an animal that's YOUR choice but ask yourself - do I understand the alternatives? What behaviour am I trying to suppress? And has it worked? If you have to continually apply the correction it has not worked. Do you understand how severe the punisher needs to be to stop the behaviour? And the big one for me: if I don't get this right what other behaviours am I going to suppress? If you want to use shaping and have a dog that actively throws new behaviours to earn reinforcement avoid using punishment wherever possible. My dogs are fearless about offering behaviours and are not worried about making mistakes - in fact mistakes are where they learn about what happens when you DON'T make the right decision. By the same token, don't go into a training session having less than a very clear idea of what you will reward. And don't give treats for the sake of giving treats. If you are not changing behaviour that's not positive reinforcement. That's called FEEDING. To quote the great Bob Bailey: make it worthwhile for them to play your silly little game.

...sorry, I get the message 'link is broken'?...I'm still resisting to surrender to Fakebook, so that could be the cause too Fixed - sorry :) thanks - yes, recall over a long distance doesn't seem to be a problem if there is a strong bond between handler and dog. I don't think that it is just a technical perfect recall training that get you there. I assume it is the handler itself who becomes the appetitive stimuli (or to whom the 'value is transferred') if there is a strong bond. Relationship is important but it is built alongside recalls in easy environments, then adding distractions (eg food or toy) plus releasing to go run/sniff/hunt/play again. Trust is a really important part of that relationship building. And that recall you saw is not easy by any stretch of the imagination - that is building layers of understanding. This is a dog who has a desire to hunt and retrieve like I need to breathe.

I've lost the border collies a couple of times...and then I turn around and they are sitting right behind me :laugh: Ha! That's brilliant! Not something that happens here!!!

...sorry, I get the message 'link is broken'?...I'm still resisting to surrender to Fakebook, so that could be the cause too Fixed - sorry :)

The thing is, if you want your dog to make great choices at a distance or in high arousal states (or both!) then you need to a) initially set up the dog in scenarios where they are highly likely to make the right choice, and b) gradually increase the level of difficulty where you have distractions BUT can still control access to the reward if they fail. As per Susan Garrett I actively set up scenarios where they fail - the dog's response as Corvus so well said is to remain in a "positive emotional state" because the dog is so excited to have an opportunity to try again. They didn't get the reward but that's it. They soon learn to do what I want and you get what you want and this becomes a normal part of life instead of a battle. In Gundog training I've taken it to another level....get the dummy (long cold channel swim) and you get the short easy mark on real game. And you need to take the cheese I offer (as opposed to spitting it out) before you get the game again. And even if you'd rather retrieve dummies you don't get to do that until we've played tug together...

When your working Spaniel goes hunting without you...you need a good recall. And here's where transferring the value comes in because nothing on this planet compares with live game in terms of reward value. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1563406503954387&id=100008551569765

Correcting agility dogs causes them either to take more off course obstacles and/or bark/spin/nip in frustration OR causes them to slow down. Neither is desirable.

Lakes Entrance and surrounds are superb this time of year - rug up for the beach but it's stunning and deserted. Mildura is a favourite too - can be a bit warmer. Bright is COLD but fabulous. Have only camped (powered site) at these destinations but the surrounding pubs, wineries etc have been very welcoming - especially with well behaved dogs in the off season. We often ring ahead or ask when we get there and that goes down very well.... "normally we don't but yes that would be fine" and then give us a great spot outside, offer a water bowl etc. Really lovely. Recently stayed in a dog friendly farm stay in Bordertown. Fabulous.

Thanks Kavik and SC. Honestly I was not going to post in this thread but if just one person thinks "there must be another way" like I did 20 years ago then that is worth the effort. I'm just trying to pay it forward as a way of thanking those that have inspired me.

Bob Bailey is not against the USE of punishment but rather against its use by the novice trainer. He is an AMAZING trainer and I understand full well when he uses punishment and it's the LAST step after he has trained the animal to be perfectly fluent. And it's usually a life-death situation. He is also a huge fan of Susan Garrett. By all means use a leash to keep your dog safe (I certainly do). But you can learn a hell of a lot about training if the only thing you have to control your dog is your skills as a trainer. By the way, my pups start learning in the bathroom first...low distraction, high rate of reward - training fundamentals. And I rarely use a clicker - much more difficult to get it right if you are training precise behaviour.

I actually agree with Bob Bailey who says that novice trainers should not be taught to use punishment. Learn how to apply positive reinforcement PROPERLY (ie mechanics, splitting vs lumping, rate of reward, differential reinforcement) before you apply principles you don't fully understand. Yes, severe punishment can permanently suppress behaviours but if you are continually having to give verbal or physical corrections the dog hasn't sufficiently learned the appropriate response. It's actually very inefficient. For the record my PhD is on human-dog relationships, dog behaviour and welfare, I work with livestock and companion animals and I've trained 100s of dog owners. I have the only Agility Champion Dalmatian in the country, my ESS is a rare example of a positively trained working and competition Gundog and, after the Agility Nationals last week she's now the Novice Agility 400 National Champion. And I still don't think I know enough about the minutiae of training to consider using punishment as part of my methods. Am I a perfect trainer? No freaking way - unfortunately I'm human and had my early dog training influences to overcome. But I know the path I'm on not only gets results but is probably the most FUN I've ever had interacting with dogs. I really don't like to debate training methods on the Internet as I'd rather spend that time doing other, more constructive things. Seriously, if you think your training method is the "right" way, take video, post it up, be proud of your technique rather than going around in circles. Saves a hell of a lot of time wasting. This is how I train:

I saw a really good idea on a trainer I follow, tie a slip knot in the middle of your leash, try not to let it come undone :D Nice! Wherever I can I play and train with no leash - it was the best thing to get me out of very old habits. My youngster does drag a long line "just in case" as she's very quick and I don't have many safe places to train her. I'm definitely not perfect when I'm walking my 3 dogs from A to B....not easy with a frozen shoulder....but I just keep aiming to improve my skills every day. ...of course ...just in case...the suitable methods to get there...(BTW: if you can only catch the end of the long line while your dog is accelerating towards ....lets say a truck, that actually can increase the risk of injuries compared to using just a normal leash - but I'm sure you know this.) Sure. But that's not what I do. Long line is FAR from ideal and is as much about giving ME confidence.

I saw a really good idea on a trainer I follow, tie a slip knot in the middle of your leash, try not to let it come undone :D Nice! Wherever I can I play and train with no leash - it was the best thing to get me out of very old habits. My youngster does drag a long line "just in case" as she's very quick and I don't have many safe places to train her. I'm definitely not perfect when I'm walking my 3 dogs from A to B....not easy with a frozen shoulder....but I just keep aiming to improve my skills every day.

Just too classy to ignore.

Just to be clear, there are vets & behaviouralists, then there are veterinary behaviouralists. The latter is what you need to find. People here may have recommendations if you let us know the general area you are in. Good post. Agree with showdog too.

SC you are a shining example!!! Loving your work xxx